Quarter mile of old train cars left on tracks below Lakeshore Drive on Muskegon Lake shoreline

MUSKEGON, MI – As evening was approaching last Tuesday, the Nims Neighborhood area along Lakeshore Drive received a mysterious visitor.

A train of 39 old “hopper” freight-train cars were pushed along the railroad tracks below Lakeshore Drive and adjacent to the city of Muskegon’s Lakeshore Trail. Many of them are rusting and covered with graffiti.

They were left to sit and remain stored along a quarter mile of railroad track from below the 1400 Block of Lakeshore Drive west to nearly the railroad bridge over Ruddiman Creek. Most of the old railroad cars are on Mid-Michigan Railroad tracks that bisect the city-owned Amoco Tank Farm site on Muskegon Lake.

Neighbors are not happy.

“It is believed that the rail cars are part of the miles of idled boxcars that are sitting all over the country and that without some active intervention on the part of residents in the city of Muskegon, the cars could be idled along our lakeshore for months, perhaps years,” David Calkins of 1450 Lakeshore Dr. wrote his fellow Nims neighbors. “There could be more boxcars on there way here right now.”

The railroad tracks are owned by the shortline company Mid-Michigan Railroad, a company along with Michigan Shore Railroad that is operated by RailAmerica with offices in Vasser. Mid-Michigan’s Scott Knight had little to say to MLive and The Muskegon Chronicle.

“The cars are sitting not being used,” Knight said, unable to say how long they will remain on the lakeshore tracks. “They are being staged for our customers.”

What leverage the Lakeshore Drive residents or the city of Muskegon has to have the railroad company remove the old hopper cars is unknown. Railroad companies have powers few other private companies have, according to Muskegon City Manager Bryon Mazade.

“Railroads have certain powers and authorities granted them by the federal government,” Mazade said, adding that the city has not yet explored what, if any, regulatory authority it might have concerning storage of railroad cars on unused tracks.

Railroad issues at the state level are handled by officials at the Michigan Department of Transportation. MDOT spokeswoman Janet Foran said she does not believe her agency would have any control over storage of railroad cars.

“Railroads can use their tracks to make money through lease of tracks not being used,” Foran said. “That is a pretty common practice for railroads to do that.”

City officials have received complaints from citizens about the storage of train cars in a residential and recreational area along the Muskegon Lake shoreline, Mazade said. City officials have contacted the railroad company, he said.

City officials said they were given the impression that the train cars are on the tracks for a “time being” and the storage of them below Lakeshore Drive is not a permanent situation.

Former Mayor Steve Warmington lives on Lakeshore Drive right above the tracks being used to store the train cars.

“What I am being told is that things have slowed down at Nugent Sand and they are parking these cars there, leaving them for now,” Warmington said. “They detract from the beauty of our waterfront and our million dollar trail. There is nothing pretty about them.”

A receptionist at Nugent Sand said that company President Robert Chandonnet was unavailable until next week, but she knew nothing about the 39 train cars.

Tom Tierney arrived at his home at 1460 Lakeshore Sunday night after being out of town to discover there was something on the tracks below his property. The train of hopper cars is making it impossible for homeowners to use the steps down their bluff to access the city’s bike path and Muskegon Lake, Tierney said.

“We came home to discover someone decided to put these in our neighborhood,” Tierney said of the hopper cars that usually carry materials from sand to dry chemicals but appear to be empty. “We said, wow, what are those.”

Calkins said he believes the railroad does not outright own its tracks but has easements to use the land for its operations. Neighbors have been told recently by railroad officials that the tracks are “abandoned,” as they have not been used since the Sappi paper mill closed in 2009.

Calkins said he and others want to explore the possibility of the city obtaining the easements if the railroad has no further use for the tracks. Paper mill property owner Melching Inc. is not using the tracks that end at the former mill property but redevelopment plans for the 120-acre site might create a new railroad customer.

Some neighbors were expected to address the Muskegon City Commission at its Tuesday meeting concerning the rail cars.